One girl's journey to West Africa for 365 days.

She kicks to the left…. counters to the right….one final shot.. she SCORES!!!!!!

This past weekend I was invited to play in the Cotonou Embassy Soccer Tournament for the USA Team. France, The European Union, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the United Nations all met at 9 am to see who would come out as official champions of the ‘Embassy’ circuit in the 5 games. My team consisted of various staff from the U.S. Embassy, and a spouse or two.

We played The European Union in the first match winning 1-0. It was my first time ever playing soccer.. like literally, I don’t think I have ever kicked a soccer ball in my life (you can blame my parents for not forcing me to do team sports as a child…just kidding, Mom.) Regardless, I didn’t do too bad on the field, I was pretty aggressive and even blocked a couple shots from the opposing team in the first game! The picture below is of me and Will, our goalie/ the Embassy’s Consular Officer before our first game.

Next we played Belgium with a 0-0 tie…

Third match was against Denmark, and we beat them 2-0!!!

In the semi-finals we played against the United Nations Development Program team, which was actually made up of all local players. There was a few players on their team that were particularly intimidating… I later found out that they played for the national team. We lost 2-0 (no wonder!) This officially ended our participation, but…

The final match was between the UN and France, France won.

It was such a great experience, not only to be part of a team sport I have never played, but also to see fans (friends and family) of the different countries come out to support their teams with pride. My friend Alexis and her son, Flynn came out to support her husband, Andy.

And another child rooted on her father as he plays for the German team.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support us, and thanks to the team for taking on a rookie like me!